Dear Mr. President,

I didn't vote for you, but you keep making my day.

The liberal magazine that I edit, The American Prospect, has doubled its circulation since last fall. Your administration is slavishly pro-business--but it's also good for our business.

The more you keep pursuing policies that most people think are nuts, the more people are eager to find alternatives. Imagine, cutting taxes on the richest one percent of Americans, instead of giving ordinary people secure health care and good schools.

Please--keep it up, Mr. President, and the sometimes gutless Democrats in Congress will come roaring back.

You tried to squeeze crusty old Senator Jim Jeffords--everything from disinviting him from a major education event honoring a teacher from his own state to threatening Vermont's dairy farmers. You squeezed him so hard he quit the Republican party.

Just when I think you've learned something--when it looks like you've decided to repair to the middle of the road and be the kind of president that you promised in your campaign--you do it again!

Scuttling the treaty on global warming. Drilling for oil in Alaska rather than pursuing conservation. Threatening to veto the patients rights bill. Spending taxpayer dollars on religious schools. Appointing protégés of Jesse Helms to the federal appeals courts.

Here at The American Prospect, we keep watching your performance with wonder and appreciation.

Even my Democratic friends are so appalled that they are starting to step up to the plate, and support bold things like living wage laws and universal health insurance.
They're actually going to block some of your court nominees.

Your administration wasn't what I had in mind, but it could be the most tonic thing for American liberalism since Franklin Roosevelt.

Sincerely,

Robert Kuttner

Co-editor